Printing device.



J. s. DUNCAN. PRINTING DEVICE.

APPLIUATION FILED MAB. 1, 1 909.

Patented July 12, 1910.

f 11 o 0 @9950 Q0 pf 00 o o o ado 'WQZMOGeS UNITED s'rA'rEs FATE @FFICE.

JOSEPH S. DUNCAN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO ADDRESSOGRAPE COMPANY,

1 OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A. CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

rn nrr'me DEVICE.

To all whom 'it concern: 1

Be it known that I, J OSEPH S; DUNCAN, a

citizen of the United States, residin at Chicago, in the county of Cook and tate of Illinois, haveinvented new and useful Improvements'in Printing Devices, of which the following is a s ecification. In many lines of usiness it is customary to send letters, notices, circulars or other matter periodically to a list of customers or subscribers, andprinting devices bearing the addresses of the customers or subscr bers have been kept in various forms for use in machines which print the addresses on envelops and sometimes on letters also. In

1 some of these printing devices theaddress is set up in rubber or'metal type, in others t is stamped in relief on a metal plate and in others it is made in the form of a stencil;

these printing devices have been linked together'in chains and also arranged in ac- I tem.

cordance with an ordinary card index sys- It is desirable to classify the rinting dev ces according to. some general scheme of classification, as alphabetically, and yet rovide for automatically selecting some 0 the.

printing device'sfor rintin without disturbing the classification. or example, a wholesale hardware store is engaged selling builders hardware, kitchen utensils, fire arms and cutlery, among other things.

There are customers for each of these lines and some customers for more than one line.

It is desirable to have one complete list arranged alphabetically, or geographicall and to avoid duplication and; also to enab e the selection of the customers ineach par.- ticular line from the general list there should be some special means of classification,-s0 that when the entire set of printing, devices is run through the machine only those will classified for a print which are s eciall particular line. T us, i letters. are" to be written or circulars .sent to customers in the'line ofbuilders hardware onlythe rinting devices bearing the addresses o customers in .this line will print and the other devices will run through the machine withoutprinting. In=this way the classification I e in w ich myinvention is embodied therewith; F

I- @1106[COI!1Panies send'out at specified inter v Specification of Letters Patent. Patented July 12, 191C. Application filed Harch 1, 1909. Serial No. 480,597.

vals notices of premiums payable, some annually, others semi-annually, and others quarterly. It is desirable to have but one complete set of rinting devices and yet be able, without isturbing the classification thereof, to print from those devices only which bear the addresses of policy holders to whom notices should be sent at a particular time.

It is the object of my invention to accom of simple and inexpensive character for designating them according to 'a special classification. And a further object of the invention is to provide designating means which can be quickl and rea'dily chan ed without disturbing t e address or niuti ating or destroying any of its parts.

n the accompanying drawin s I have illustrated the invention embodied in its referred form in a printing device and reerring thereto- Figure l is a front view. Fig. 2is a backview. Fig. 3 shows a printing device provided with an index tab. Fig. 4 shows another embodiment of the invention. Fig. 5 is a sectional view on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1. Figs. 6 and 7 show clips'constructed to cover more than one opening on the frame. Fig. 8 is a detail perspective view of the clip shown in Figs. 1-4.

The articular printing device which has been se ected for illustrating the preferred so a form ofthe invention comprises a frame 7 which carries a card 8 and a printing plate 9. The printing plate is a stri 0 metal having the address stamped in re ief thereon "and the card bears an impressionof the ad- "dress" with any other memoranda desired.

These devices are generally arranged in trays or drawers in accordance with a card index system and, as before stated, they are run ,through a machineone at a time to print the addressesfon envelops, letters or other things. "The invention may embodied in any other (printing device for which it is adapted-an one shown in the drawings merelyv as a good I have selected the 7 exam 1c of the artto illustrate the manner i the form of a strip at its upper edge above of the devices in the class bein the card 8 and this extension has a plurality of openings 11 spaced apart at intervals therein. A clip 12 is engaged with said extension and is ada ted to be adjusted from end to end thereo to cover one or more of the holes. As shown in Fig. 5 the extension has a bead 13 formed therein below the openings by stamping and providing a groove 14: at the front thereof. The clip comprises a piece of metal bent upon itself to fit on the extension and its lower edge 15 is preferably bent to enter the roove 14 and its lower ed e 16 is preferably bent to fit over the bea 13. The clip has-an indented or depressed part-l7 whlch is adapted to engage the openings 11 and the construction is such that the clip may be adjusted to position on the extension by slight pressure ap plied thereto and when so adjusted, with the indented or depressed part engaged with an opening, it will remain there until pressure is again applied. I may provide a clip 18 (Fig. 6) to cover two openings, or a clip 19* (Fig. 7 to cover three openings, or the clip may e provided to cover any other number of openings as desired.

Instead of the long extension shown in Figs. 1 and 2 I may use the short extension 20, as shown in Fig. 3, and provide an index tab 21 between the extension and the end of the frame. And instead of providing the openings in an extension of the frame 1 may locate the card 22 (Fig. 4) below the upper edge of the frame and provide the openings 23 in the frame between the card and its upper edge.

In practice it is intended that the openlngs in the strip shall represent divisions of a classification. Thus the first opening may indicate builders hardware, the second kitchen utensils, the third firearms, the fourth cutlery, and so on. All of the rintmg devices bearing the addresses of uilders? hardware customers should have a clip over the first hole; the printing devices hearing the addresses of kitchen utensil customers should have a clip over the second hole, and so on. When one party is a customer in two or more classes clips should be arranged over the opening for each class and obviously the classification should be so made that in cases of this kind one clip may be used to cover two or more openings, as indicated in Figs. 6, 7, as far as ossible. In printing the addresses-it is inten ed that all of the printing devices shall be run through the machinebutthe latter is set to print from the devices of one class only all indicated by a clip covering the opening w ich has been selected'to deslgnate that class. The printing device at a predetermined point in its travel through the machine, sets into operation the printing mechanism by enga ment of the clip in its adjusted position wit some suitable instrumentality on the machine, which is adapted to cause the actuation of the printing mechanism. In this way the entire list of customers may be arranged in one set of addresses which can be classified alphabetically, or geographically, and the printing device of every customer will be specially classified by the clips in the class or classes to which he belon This system maintains the general classi cation intact at all times and also avoids the necessity for duplicating addresses where a customer buys in different classes of goods.

Insurance companies would have a sepa rate printing device for each policy holder and a clip over the opening representing the n'ionth or months in which notices of premiums payable should be sent. Thus when a policy holder is paying his premiums quar terly there would be four clips on the printing device instead of four printing devices.

My invention is simple in character and greatly simplifies and lessens the cost of installing a set of printing devices for an address list in any line of business, particularly as it enables the entire set to be maintained constantly according to a general classification, alphabetically or otherwise, and at the same time each address is speeially classified and constructed so that it will print only at the proper time when the entire set is run through a printing machine.

The advantages of my invention will be clearly apparent in connection with a list of policy holders. It enables a com lete list of policy holders to be maintaine according to a general classification, alphabetically, geographically, or otherwise, and each printing device is clipped to automatically trip the machine as it passes therethrough .to print at a certain time no other butv as often as required. This enables the set of printing devices to be kept in a more com- .pact form than would be possible if duplicates were required, and it presents many obvious advantages over the former practice of picking out here and there in the set the printing devices required and replacing them after printing which has prevailed. to a more or less extent. This practice requires considerable time and labor and often results in replacement in improper order. My invention entirely avoids the necessity for duplicating printing devicesfor for selecting certain devices to be printed. The printing devices run through the machine rapidly' and as they are replaced in the trays or drawers in which they are stored in the same osition after printing as they were in be ore printing their regular order of arrangement is constantl maintained for reference tpurposes. The clip can be readily changed orm one hole to another and this comes obsolete.

The clip is held in position on the frame 'by frictional engagement therewith in the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings and whereas the engagement of the ends of the clip with the bead and the groove, respectively in the frame, or the engagement of the in ented or depressed part with the opening might ordinaril .be sufiicient to prevent accidental dislo gment ofthe clip from its adjusted position, I prefer to provide both means for this purpose.

WVhat I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A printing device comprising a frame provided with a series of alined openings adjacent one edge thereof, and a. clip adapted to slide on the frame oyer said openings and having means for engaging with one of the openings to position-said clipover said opening. j

2. A printing device comprising a frame having an extension at one edge thereofprovided with a series of openings, and a clip adapted to slide longitudinally of said extension and'havin'g means for engaging with one of the openings to position said clip over said opening.

3. A printing devicecomprising a frame and a longitudinally extending portion projecting from one edge thereof provided with a plurality of openings therethrough, and a clip adapted to be engaged over said extension and slide lon itudinally thereof, said clip being provide with means for engagmg with anyone of the openings to position the clip.

4. A printing device comprising a frame provided with a series of openings adjacent one edge thereof, and a printing mechanism actuating means adjustable longitudinally of one edge of said frame and adapted to be positione over any one of the openings for causing the operat on of the printingmechamsm at a certain predetermined period.

5. A printing device comprising a frame, an extension on the, frame atits u per edge havmg a plurality of openings t erein, a

clip slidably mounted on the extension, and

4 having a plurality of openings therein, and

a clip adapted to cover an opening in the extension, said clip having an indented or depressed part to engage the opening to hold the clip in adjusted position. I 7. A printing device comprising a frame, an extension on the frame having a plurality of openings therein, a clip consisting of a strip of metal bent to fit over the extension, said clip being slidable from end to end of theextension, and means on the clip to engage one of the openings to hold the clip in position to coversaid opening.

8. A printing device comprising a frame, an extension on the frame having a plurality of openings therein, and a clip consisting of a. plece of metal bent to fit over the extento cover said openin 9. A printing devlce comprising a frame, an'e'xtension on the frame having a plurality of openings therein, a bead "on the extension extending lengthwise thereof beneath the openings, said bead being located at the back of the extension and providing a groove at the front thereof, and a clip fitting over said extension and adjustable from end to end thereof, the ends of "said clip being engaged with said head and said groove respectively.

10. A printing device cogndprising a frame, an extension at the upper ge of the frame having a plurality of openlngs therein, a

clip adjustable on the frame and adapted to cover one of the openin s therem, and

a tab on the upper edge 0 the frame be tween said extension and the end of the frame.

JOSEPH S. DUNCAN. Witnesses:

WM. H. BELT, M. A. Kmnm. 

